16-4-6 The Attraction Of Judaism
It is apparent from letters like Romans and Galatians that there
was a strong tendency for Gentile Christians to join Judaism. And
we also know that many Jewish converts soon returned to Judaism.
Humanity lacks faith; it was far easier to believe that the system
of altar, temple, sacrifice and priest could grant forgiveness than
to believe that the work of this man Jesus, whom many had
never seen, had already obtained all this, and there was nothing
else required than a deep internal acceptance and belief of this
as historical reality, and living a life in response to it. It also
needs to be understood that the Romans didn’t tolerate the exclusive
nature of the Christian religion; it wasn’t registered as a religion,
and the exclusiveness of it was an affront on the Roman concept
of religio, whereby any religion was tolerated so long
as the worshipper also worshipped Caesar as Lord. Yet Christianity
denied this: there was only one Lord, Jesus. “One Lord, one faith”
was therefore a radical, defiant statement. And it seems that new
converts were requested to state that “Jesus is Lord” at their confession
of faith at baptism. The only religion that was officially
tolerated in the empire which didn’t accept Caesar as Lord was Judaism.
Jews were not conscripted for the Roman army; Dolabella expressly
exempted them from military service (1).
This was a major attraction of Judaism. They were allowed their
own gerousia or senate, and they had their own courts of
justice. Their economic and social advantages often provoked riots
in cities like Alexandria where there were many Jews. The synagogues
welcomed proselytes [circumcised Gentiles] and also “God fearers”
[uncircumcised Gentiles], and on this basis Gentile Christians could
easily associate with them. Yet Christianity enjoyed none of these
advantages. The Lord had taught that His true people would be thrown
out of the synagogues rather than welcomed into them.
The apostles had every disadvantage when they set about trying
to convert Jewry to Christ. A handful of men without formal rabbinical
training were trying to correct the theology and religious practice
of the professional religious leaders; in a religious environment
where tradition and eldership were so highly regarded. And yet,
“a great company of the priests” was obedient to their preaching.
Their understanding of Messiah was directly opposite to that of
the Jews, who were seeking a warrior king to deliver them from the
Romans and establish a Kingdom. In any case, the Jews didn’t understand
Messiah as the Son of God, exalted to the level Jesus was. They
failed to appreciate His spiritual achievements and the saving necessity
of them. They saw Messiah as the embodiment and triumph of everything
Jewish, rather than as a universal Saviour from sin. Yet the Christians
presented a crucified carpenter-teacher as the summit of Israel’s
development, in the face of all these attractions of Judaism. They
defined Messiah as a deliverer, e.g. in Psalms of Solomon
17 (written about 50 BC):
“Behold, O Lord, and raise up for them their King, the Son of
David
And gird him with strength to shatter unrighteous rulers,
And to purge Jerusalem from Gentiles that trample her down to
destruction”.
Further, there were elements of Christian teaching which were a
direct affront to Judaism. Part of being a Christian was to
expect to be treated by the Jews in just the same way as they had
treated Jesus. The Sabbath was replaced with keeping the first day
of the week for worship; the food laws were reduced by Paul’s inspired
teaching to parts of “the weak and beggarly elements”. The Jewish
hatred of the Christians is revealed by the riots that ensued when
the Gospel was preached in the synagogues, and in the persecution
of the Christians at the hands of the Jews in Jerusalem, Damascus
and in the Asian cities (according to the letters in Rev. 2,3).
The insistence that Jewish converts be baptized would have been
hard of acceptance; for Gentiles took just such a ritual bath when
they converted to Judaism.
One major obstacle for Jewish minds would have been their perception
that prayer and worship were to be carried out in the Jerusalem
temple. This would have been a particular barrier for the many Jews
in Jerusalem who converted to Christ. Whilst initially it appears
the believers did attend the temple services, it is also significant
that Acts repeatedly brings out the parallels between prayers and
worship performed in the temple, and those performed in
the ordinary homes of believers. Some passages about worship in
the temple appear to be in parallel with others about such worship
in homes. Luke seems to emphasize how important was the home as
a place for prayer. Cornelius is presented as praying at home at
the ninth hour, which was the hour of temple prayer (Acts 10:3,30).
The prayer of Acts 4:24-31 speaks of the God who made heaven and
earth and the sea and everything in it- a classic Jewish liturgy
used in the temple prayers. The point being, such prayers didn’t
have to be made in the temple through the Jewish priests. Further,
there is extra-Biblical evidence (from Tertullian, Origen and Cyprian)
that the third, sixth and ninth hours were the times for prayer
amongst the early Christians- but these were the very hours of prayer
in the temple! This would have been so hard to accept to the Jewish
mind- that your own humble home [hence Luke stresses meetings and
prayers in homes so much] was the house of God. It had
been so drummed into the Jewish mind that the temple was “the house
of prayer” (Is. 56:7; 60:7 LXX)- but now they were faced with the
wonderful reality that their own home was that house of prayer.
Only those brave enough to really reach out for a personal relationship
with the God of Heaven would have risen up to this challenging idea.
And yet the very height and thrill of the challenge inspired so
many to do so.
Notes
(1) Josephus, Antiquities
of the Jews 14.10.8 |
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